Two Manzai Dancers

Utagawa Toyokuma (mentioned on object), 1832

Twee manzai dansers onder nieuwjaarsdecoraties, één slaat op een trommel. Achter hem een man met een waaier waarop lange maanden 1,3,7,9,11 en 12 voor het jaar 1832. Met één gedicht.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono, egoyomi (kalenderblad)
  • Object numberRP-P-1995-289
  • Dimensionsheight 191 mm x width 81 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments

Utagawa Toyokuma

Two Manzai Dancers

Japan, Japan, 1832

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1994;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 59, cat. no. 129 by whom donated to the museum, 1995

Object number: RP-P-1995-289

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse


The artist

Biography

Utagawa Toyokuma (probably born in the 1810s) was the grandson of Utagawa Toyohiro (1773-1828).


Entry

Two men perform a Manzai dance below New Year's decorations consisting of twisted straw ropes, shimenawa, ferns, urajiro, and other leaves. One of them beats a hand-drum, the other, holding a fan and dancing, is dressed in a blue kimono with medallions reserved in white. On the fan a painting of a dragon among clouds. In front of the dancers, two low offering stands, a jewel on one of them, a set of three red-lacquered sake cups on the other. In the foreground a kettle of spiced sake, tososake, traditionally drunk on the occasion.

This print is a picture calendar, egoyomi, for the New Dragon Year 1832, the numerals for the long months, 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, intercalary 11, and 12, inscribed in the medallions on the dancers' kimono. The dating 'Year of the Dragon', Tatsu no toshi, i.e., 1832, is printed at top left.

One poem by Sakuragawa Jinko, with a seal shaped as a tortoise inscribed with the character for 'long life', kotobuki.

The poem refers to the rapid movements of the Manzai dancers. For another poem by Sakuragawa Jinko, see RP-P-1999-250.

Issued by the poet
Signature reading: Utagawa Toyokuma ga


Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 194


Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa Toyokuma, Two Manzai Dancers, Japan, 1832', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200382607

(accessed 8 December 2025 20:35:43).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 59, cat. no. 129